Access to SMSC is currently limited. Please email to schedule an appointment.
The Southern Maryland Studies Center offers reproduction of archival material on a case-by-case basis. The researcher is responsible for determining copyright ownership and obtaining permission to publish any copyrighted materials.
Photocopies or digital scans of printed materials (books, pamphlets, etc.) from the Reading Room may be made by the SMSC staff upon request.
Requests for photocopies or digital scans of archival collection materials must be submitted to staff and will be approved on a case-by-case basis.
The SMSC reserves the right to refuse to reproduce any material.
The SMSC will inform patrons of any use restrictions stipulated by the donor when a collection was transferred to the SMSC or restrictions placed on a collection by the SMSC. Agreements between the SMSC and a donor about use of a collection may be separate from legal rights of copyright, publicity, and privacy.
The patron is responsible for determining and abiding by the copyright status of any materials obtained from the SMSC. Any request for permission to publish manuscript, photographic, audio/visual, or other materials from the SMSC collections must be submitted in writing to the Archivist.
In granting permission to publish, the SMSC does not surrender its own right to publish the same material or to grant permission to others to do so. Nor does this authorization by the SMSC remove the author’s and publisher’s responsibility to guard against infringement of rights that may be held by others.
The patron is responsible for properly citing the SMSC, College of Southern Maryland, and the individual collections consulted when publishing results obtained using the SMSC’s materials. Information on citing materials from the Southern Maryland Studies Center is located in the "Citing Archival Materials" tab of the "Reproduction, Copyright, and Citation" page of this guide.
The Southern Maryland Studies Center’s staff will provide, to the best of their ability, copyright information about the Collections in the Archive. This information will be disseminated to the public through the SMSC Collections Catalog, finding aids, and other appropriate means.
The patron, however, is ultimately responsible for determining and abiding by the copyright status (as governed under Title 17 of the U.S. Code) of any material obtained from the SMSC. Patrons will be made aware that the physical possession of materials by the SMSC does not necessarily confer any interest in the copyright for those materials to the SMSC.
The Southern Maryland Studies Center’s response to issues related to copyright is governed by the following:
CSM Copyright Policy LIB:1301
The Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S. Code)
Deed of Gift and/or Loan Agreement
Please remember to properly cite the Southern Maryland Studies Center, College of Southern Maryland, and the individual collections consulted when publishing results obtained through the use of the Southern Maryland Studies Center’s materials.
The process for citing primary source documents from an archive varies depending on the preference of your instructor, the publication you are submitting the article, or the discipline in which you are operating. The particular style may be the Chicago Manual of Style, the Modern Language Association (MLA), the American Psychological Association (APA), etc.
There are several elements to the citation which may be necessary to properly cite a document:
The document: The creator or author, specific item title, page, section, date.
Box and folder number: The majority of materials found in archives are housed in some sort of container and within the container the various items are separated in folders.
Repository: This is the name of the archives.
Item Title, Day Month YYYY, Box #, Folder #, Collection, Southern Maryland Studies Center, College of Southern Maryland.
Creator/Author Last Name, First Name. Item Title. Day Month YYYY. Collection. Southern Maryland Studies Center, College of Southern Maryland, La Plata.
Creator/Author Last Name, First Initial. (YYYY, Month Day). [Item Title]. Collection, Southern Maryland Studies Center (Box #, Folder #), College of Southern Maryland, La Plata, MD.